Not Sick
by Artemis1000
Summary: Zeb is absolutely not sick, and Sabine is not trying to cheer him up.


**Not Sick**

Zeb is absolutely not sick, and Sabine is not trying to cheer him up.

"Ezra."

Sabine waited for her blue-haired friend to turn around to her, all innocent face and just short of whistling.

"Yes, Sabine?"

"Whatever you are planning to do: don't."

"Oh come on, I was just going to bother Zeb a little! Chopper's been doing it, too!"

Sabine thrust the toolbox she had been lugging at Ezra's chest. "If you're bored, you and Chopper can do maintenance on the cannons for me."

Ezra snatched up the box before it could fall onto his feet, but that didn't stop him from giving her an outraged look. "Why?"

"Because Zeb's not sick, and somebody's got to not take care of him."

She ignored the whine of, "aw, Sabine!" and brushed past him to brave the Lasat in his den.

Being a self-reliant and very stubborn Mandalorian, Sabine understood her partner's refusal to admit to weakness perfectly well. She hated being sick and would go to great lengths to hide it from the crew for as long as she could. Everybody liked to tell her how frustrating that was and that she made it worse by trying to hide it, but she hadn't truly appreciated their frustration until now.

Lights were off in the room Zeb shared with Ezra, and through the door only just enough light filtered in to let Sabine make out the bundle of blankets on the lower bunk bed.

A single tuft of white fur – an ear – peeked out of the blanket pile.

The door hissed shut behind her and Sabine flipped on the lights.

The blanket pile shifted, there was some growling and wrangling before Zeb's scowling face came into sight.

"Don't even start! I'm not sick!" he snapped. Well, he tried to snap. It was more like… he croaked. But he got points for trying.

Sabine rolled her eyes as she sauntered deeper into the room. It was very hot in here, she had no idea how Zeb could take it between the blankets and his fur.

"I never said that," she pointed out. "I was just wondering why you're sulking in your room on a perfectly good day off. I was planning to kick you around on the training field."

He narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion, obviously not believing a word. "Hmpf. You wish."

"I know," Sabine replied easily and flashed him a smirk. "I added some nasty surprises to my jetpack."

Zeb's grumpiness faded, replaced by curiosity, and Sabine felt a little bit bad for teasing him. He had to be feeling miserable enough about his bedrest without hearing about all the fun he was missing out on.

She sat on the edge of the bed. "I heard Chopper and Ezra have been making a nuisance of themselves, but I've got them occupied for the rest of the day."

Zeb snuffled loudly. "Thanks."

Sabine's smile softened. "anytime."

She took in how miserable he looked, while careful not to appear like she was studying him. His fur was damp and matted, his eyes glassy. He couldn't breathe without making painful-sounding rattling noises.

There was really no denying it, he was sick, but knowing Zeb he would be stubborn about it until he passed out. It was a minor miracle that he was staying in bed at all without anyone needing to lock him in the room.

She held up a flask and shook it invitingly. "I brought you hot tea."

"Hmpf. I don't need you fussing over me."

"I don't fuss. But I want you to get better quickly. I had grand plans for our downtime on the base!"

Zeb visibly perked up, even his ears, which had been drooping limp and sad, stood upright again. They turned towards her. "Sparring and…?"

"…a date," Sabine explained, a little awkwardly now. She flicked some imaginary lint off her thighs. "Just the two of us."

Zeb looked suspicious again. "There's nothing out there but rocks and kryknas and kryknas hiding among the rocks."

"Yeah, and you know I'm more creative than that." She thrust the thermos at him and stood up. "So get better quickly, or you'll never find out what I had planned."

She made it halfway to the door before Zeb cleared his throat awkwardly. Sabine stopped, looking over her shoulder at him.

"You could stay. If you like. I wouldn't mind."

She bit down on her bottom lip to hide the smile that threatened to overtake her face. She didn't need an express _I want you to stay_ to know that he meant it.

"But don't think I'm going to kiss you, I don't want to catch what you have," she said, just to keep things from becoming awkward between them at this show of too much emotion.

Sabine grinned at his mock grumbles and sat down again on the edge of the bed. In spite of her worries of making it too emotional, she couldn't help reaching for him and leaning against him. "So," she began in a drawl, "what do you say we keep ourselves entertained with some good old-fashioned revenge plotting?"

Even while he looked utterly miserable, you couldn't miss the glee in Zeb's eyes. "We do make a good team…" he said slyly.

Mission accomplished, Sabine decided. With such motivation, he would be back on his feet in no time.

He was, two days later Zeb was almost back to his normal level of energetic grumpiness.

And then Sabine sneezed…


End file.
